Comments on: What they’re saying about the collapses

By: cackalackyank

cackalackyank — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 02:25:21 +0000

*sigh* like I said ..STILL talking about the head to head…and oh yes I was feeling VERY bitter as I watched the Sox go home. This only goes to underscore the problem…the Rays and their fans can celebrate a meaningful accomplishment: Winning the wild card. The Red Sox and their fans are left to whine about something that turned out to be meaningless in the BIG picture. I say take one series at a time now, the Tigers are a formidable challenge. If the Rays continue to play their hot hand in October the Yankees may see them again. But as of now you have eight teams that have passed successfully through a long season and now face off at 0-0.

By: indaburg

indaburg — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 02:22:31 +0000

I’m re-watching the Rays game from last night right now, and while some fans did leave, the majority stayed. Why not focus on respecting them? You’re a half glass empty kinda guy, aren’t you?

Lighten up. You’re being a little too rough on the fans. The game was actually painful to watch for a Rays fan: watching one of our ace pitchers get destroyed, being two-hit until the 8th inning by what was basically the Scranton Yankee pitching staff, down 7-0 to the Yankees, a team who hasn’t blown a lead that large since ’53.

My hope is that the Rays made a bunch of new fans last night, nationwide. I’ve always said, I didn’t choose to root for the Rays based on the quantity or quality of the fans they have. But it is nice to have company.

By: rmjcv

rmjcv — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 20:17:11 +0000

I can’t wait to see the HBO documentary dramatically narrated by Bob Costas on how the Red Sox blew it again….
It is completely obvious to me that the baseball Gods do not like the Red Sox. The Rays down 7-0 in the 8th, the Red Sox up 3-2 in the bottom of the 9th w/ 2 outs. I’d even pay money to see the Hollywood version.

By: Francisco (FC)

Francisco (FC) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 20:10:55 +0000

Bobby Cox choked too. give Fredi some credit, he did a great job with a bunch of kids and under performing veterans! He can’t go out there and HIT for them!

No, but he can call for an intentional walk on Hunter Pence to get to the weaker hitter Martinez. It’s one thing to say your players must execute your game plan, quite another to not put them in the best possible position to succeed.

By: Bill

Bill — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 20:07:07 +0000

Tone is a difficult thing to convey on the internet, but I was never trying to “bash”you. At least not maliciously. It was supposed to be more of a gentle ribbing.

By: El Bravo

El Bravo — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 19:40:13 +0000

Bill, my original name was El Bravo, over a year ago. I then forgot my password and created ‘Mr. Heyward’. Then wordpress took over and I merged them. Now, I’m reverting to my original name b/c, yes, I don’t think Heyward is going to pull out of this “slump”, and in fact, he is just going to be a sub-par baseball player it seems. I don’t want to name myself after a shitty ball player who will no longer be a regular on my team in all likelihood. So forgive me. Now, if you could direct your attention to a Phillies fan instead of bashing a member of the same fan base, we’d all be better off wouldn’t we?

I still stand by my comments that one shouldn’t give up on their team before it’s all said and done (I wasn’t trying to direct that specifically at you, in fact, much of that was toward Craig (who apparently is just gifted with foresight and I’m not)). That said, I pretty much feel the team did actually give up on themselves last night. That was worse than the feeling that some fans were giving up on them. Much much worse.

By: mamow74

mamow74 — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 19:14:15 +0000

Aaaaahhhhhh. I’m a Mets fan, and my hating of the Braves ended a long time ago, as Jack Donaghy would say, for the last few years I’ve “hate-respected” them. Having said that, if these two collapses means people will stop talking about the Mets collapses from a few years ago, I’m kind of the happiest person on earth. God bless you Atlanta and Boston, Tom Glavine can now live in peace.

By: nyyankeedave

nyyankeedave — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 18:37:27 +0000

Bobby Cox choked too. give Fredi some credit, he did a great job with a bunch of kids and under performing veterans! He can’t go out there and HIT for them!

By: leerosenthall

leerosenthall — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 17:37:04 +0000

Bobby Andino aka B’Andino

By: Bill

Bill — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 17:30:54 +0000

I’m not faulting you for having a simple tag. I’m faulting you for criticizing my lack of enthusiasm, and then changing your tag because your sore that our team didn’t make the playoffs. I think that was fairly obvious, and I should have been able to let this go unsaid. Alas.

By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 16:59:47 +0000

Bob brings you Slack.

By: El Bravo

El Bravo — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 16:31:26 +0000

Your name is Bill. WTF are you talking about?

By: jimbo1949

jimbo1949 — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 16:30:30 +0000

5th and 7th inning Sept 15th 2010, both off Hughes @ TB

By: nategearhart

nategearhart — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:26:50 +0000

You’re demanding an apology from strangers who made an inaccurate prediction on baseball? Are you really THAT lacking in validation?

By: jimbo1949

jimbo1949 — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:20:43 +0000

Being a Rays fan I’m surprised you’ve forgotten that Dan Johnson has a history against the Yankees. Last September he hit two 2 run homers in the same game to beat the Yankees.

By: spudchukar

spudchukar — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:15:09 +0000

Tough finish to a darn good season Craig. Your young talented Braves will be back and stronger for it.

I feel guilty with so many riches today. How often in one’s life does everything go just right? You fellas (Cards and Rays) made me proud. Thanks. Thanks so much.

By: danandcasey

danandcasey — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:08:00 +0000

Of 58 “experts” I surveyed at the start of the year, 39 picked the Phils, 19 picked the Braves to win the East. 25 more had the Braves as the WC. 17 had the Braves as the NL pennant winner. 3 had the Braves as the World champs.

Of course, 57 of the 58 “experts” had the Red Sox winning the East. 53 of the 58 had the Red Sox winning the AL pennant. And, 43 of the 58 crowned the Red Sox would-be World Champions.

Oh yeah, the D’Backs did not make the list (but 1 “expert” had the Astros winning the Central). .

By: spudchukar

spudchukar — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:07:01 +0000

I admire your ability to find the “silver lining”, even on the darkest of days.

By: spudchukar

spudchukar — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:03:06 +0000

You just struck out for the 5th time.

By: churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged

churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:01:27 +0000

Sorry, had to

By: danandcasey

danandcasey — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:01:17 +0000

I understand your Braves v. Phillies post, but the Cards lost their best pitcher for 34 starts this year and they are in the playoffs.

By: churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged

churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 14:59:26 +0000

Steve Berthiaume, ESPN

Picked the Astros to win the NL Central. How he’s still working at ESPN is beyond me

By: WhenMattStairsIsKing

WhenMattStairsIsKing — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 14:58:57 +0000

I hope many of you are enjoying the therapy sessions that this comment thread is providing.

By: churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged

churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 14:57:49 +0000

I’m basically paraphrasing one of the sabr guys I follow (I want to say Klaw brought it up, but I’m not searching through months of tweets to find it). I was trying to find pitches thrown, but fangraphs only has his MLB numbers. I thought bref.com did the same but I’m drawing a blank on where to look.

By: Francisco (FC)

Francisco (FC) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 14:57:35 +0000

Except, apart from Buster Olney, who picked Atlanta in the NL East?

Aaron Boone, ESPN
Steve Berthiaume, ESPN
Dave Cameron, FanGraphs
Jason Churchill, ESPN Insider
Jason Grey, ESPN Fantasy
Steve Goldman, Baseball Prospectus
Tony Jackson, ESPNLA.com
Jonah Keri, FanGraphs
David Kull, ESPN.com
Andrew Marchand, ESPNNY.com
Amy K. Nelson, ESPN.com
Dave O’Brien, ESPN
Doug Padilla, ESPNChicago.com
David Schoenfield, ESPN.com
Peter Pascarelli, ESPN

That said, I don’t think any Mea Culpa is in order, they were just wrong and that’s all there is to it. And besides it’s not like they picked oh, say, the Cubs to win the NL Central right?

I just snicker a little that you didn’t bother to check.

By: WhenMattStairsIsKing

WhenMattStairsIsKing — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 14:55:41 +0000

Can we buy Girardi some whitening strips instead? The man looks like George Washington.

By: Bill

Bill — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 14:52:13 +0000

This from the commenter who gave me grief for not being enough of a homer going into the last two games? C’mon, man. Weak sauce.

By: plezbo

plezbo — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 14:50:52 +0000

The sad thing is, prior to all of the Calcaterra anti-Phillies/Braves-homer stuff this year, I had a lot of respect and admiration for the Braves fan base as a whole. Now, I am basking in the glory of Craigy’s tears, oh they are so salty and warm, they taste like regret and defeat, its wonderful.

Well Craig, there is still time to start cheering for the Yankees.

By: El Bravo

El Bravo — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 14:38:13 +0000

I killed it b/c Heyward killed me (along with the rest of the team). I warned him yesterday in a post that I would do so, and he failed me. The Braves failed. He has no right to have me use his name anymore.

By: Jonny 5

Jonny 5 — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 14:36:21 +0000

I wasn’t aware of that actually. From last year, I only remember Moylan being the big pain in the Phillies butts. Thanks for that perspective though.